Case against Facebook for hosting 'I hate Gandhi' group

Lucknow: A case was registered here against social networking site Facebook and others for hosting a group called 'I hate Gandhi' and posting offensive remarks against Mahatma Gandhi, police said.

The first information report (FIR) was filed by Indian Police Service officer Amitabh Thakur at Gomti Nagar police station on Monday.

The complaint also names many members of the group Thakur contacted to get the offensive comments against the Father of the Nation removed. The users ignored his request.

Thakur said he also contacted the social networking site, headquartered at Palo Alto, in California, US.

'I sent a mail to Facebook, which they responded to, but their reply was not satisfactory,' Thakur said.

The case has been filed under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including public nuisance (section 290), intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (section 504), criminal intimidation (section 506) and using information technology for these purposes (section 66A of the IT Act).

Thakur, the IPS officer of UP Cadre, is currently on a study leave at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L).